


Cats&Dogs

by rapacityinblue



Category: Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Cannibalism, Gen, Implied Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-04
Updated: 2012-01-04
Packaged: 2017-10-28 22:37:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/312936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rapacityinblue/pseuds/rapacityinblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Biological imperative and an age-old rivalry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cats&Dogs

Vincent leans over the aluminum of the water-fountain and spits, but he can still taste the tang of blood on his tongue. He fills his mouth with water again and again, he spits.

The blue fluorescents flicker discernibly overhead, giving the entire emergency room the feel of a club. The rest of Avalanche clusters at the other end of the lobby, holding each other. Cloud appears unaware that he's clutching a worn blue overcoat, with patches rusted over the front.

Only Cid and Barret sit apart, in the cold molded metal seats one generation removed from folding chairs. Their positions are identical – burly arms crossed over burly chests, slouched, legs stretched out until they almost block the aisle. Cid aggressively chews the cigarette the nurses won't let him light.

“Only one thing I know,” Barret mutters, language carefully modified for the presence of Marlene and Denzel, “And that's two people know what happened in that warehouse and ain't neither of them talking.”

Cid snorted his agreement. “Sh'yeah.”

Their voices are clearly pitched to carry across the lobby. Vincent draws in another mouthful of water and pretends not to hear. He spits.

“Vincent, come on,” Yuffie hisses, her voice coming out harder than she means it to. She tugs him back to the seating area, and he licks around his gums, still tasting the coppery tang of someone else's blood.

Vincent sits and Yuffie flops into the seat beside him. He pretends not to notice the way she fidgits. He pretends not to notice that Tifa's hand shakes when she squeezes his, just like he pretends not to notice how Cloud hovers behind her despite his awkwardly half-meant smiles, and that he's still clutching the goddamn blue coat.

Cid and Barret stay on their end of the lobby and refuse to even look over. Each has a child flopped across his lap. In her arms, Marlene clutches a cloaked and crowned stuff cat, which glares at Vincent with as much animosity as the rest of the room combined.

Only Nanaki appears completely disaffected by the air of the hospital waiting room. He settles over Vincent's feet and lays his head across Vincent's knees. “It is rather humiliating,” he admits, “but I find your kind tends to be greatly comforted by the touch of a mammalian quadruped.”

Vincent wants to disagree, but he finds the presence of another canine soothes the beast within. He rests his claw between Nanaki's ears.

The nurse emerges from the back, wringing her hands. She looks distinctly relieved when Cloud stands and goes over, and when Vincent stays behind. He ignores their whispers back and forth, the glares digging into his neck from the opposite end of the room.

Tifa looks between him and Cloud, anxiety clear on her face. She hasn't left his side since she first found the slaughterhouse in the basement of Aerith's church.

He wonders about the assassins' bodies scattered among the flower patches. He wonders what's happened to them, if anyone has gone back to erase the carnage. The memory of the scene makes Galian stir in him again, and growl.

Tifa's demeanor changed markedly later, on the Sierra, when they found the claw and tooth marks strewn over Reeve's body, amid and between the bullet wounds.

Cloud returns and the mumbling nurse flees back to the treatment room. “It's still too soon to know,” the blond whispers. The glares directed at him double in force. Even Tifa pulls her hands away.

“She said we can go,” Cloud continues. “It will be hours.”

No one in the waiting room moves. Galian growls in Vincent's belly and the sound moves up to his lips.

Cloud picks up the remaining scraps of blue coat that he'd abandoned when the nurse approached, and settles back into his seat. The flourescent lights flicker. Galian howls. Vincent rubs his tongue against the roof of his mouth and tastes blood.


End file.
